I arrived at Disneyland shortly after 1pm and spent most of the day just wandering around the park. As expected for a Monday in off-season, it was fairly uncrowded, and most of the rides I walked past showed wait times of no more than 10 minutes. The Haunted Mansion was closed for the changeover to Haunted Mansion Holiday, and the Matterhorn was closed for refurbishment as well. I enjoyed listening to the Delta Daddios, an a capella entertainment group in New Orleans Square.
This year, the resort would be decorated for the fall/Halloween season, and some things had already been put in place. I was looking forward to seeing all the new decorations that were in store and noticed one additional change. On Main Street, there is a little side street in the middle just after the Market House where you can access the Cone Shop and the lockers. One of the facades on the outside of the Market House is that of the Hotel Marceline, a tribute to the city of Marceline, where Walt Disney grew up.
The Hotel Marceline facade.
The front window had been redecorated to advertise a Halloween party, complete with lots of nice Halloween touches.
A closer look at the window.
The invitation to the party.
A decorated cake.
A Halloween cup-and-saucer set.
And of course, there are treats.
I noticed that the display outside the Gibson Girl Ice Cream Parlour had been changed for the fall/Halloween season as well, and I like that these small touches are made. They're easy to overlook but they're treasures upon discovery.
I wanted to be sure to be at flag retreat, so I made my way to Town Square around 4:30pm. As I waited, there were announcements made over the public address system that the Disneyland Band would be marching down Main Street to Town Square to take part in a patriotic flag retreat ceremony and invited everyone to join them. Shortly after 5pm, the Disneyland Band indeed did come marching down Main Street. When I had previously been to flag retreat and the band was there, they generally circled the flagpole, so I was surprised that this time, they lined up facing away from the train station, with the conductor across the circle facing them.
The band at flag retreat.
The conductor leads the band.
The band played a number of songs, and over the loudspeaker were snippets of recordings from John F. Kennedy ("ask not" speech), Martin Luther King, Jr. ("I have a dream" speech), Abraham Lincoln and the recording of the Eagle landing on the moon. One segment of this sounded like the band's version of the armed forces fireworks salute that Disneyland has had on special occasions in recent years. The band then played the National Anthem for the lowering of the flags and continued to play through the folding of the flags.
Security guards folding the American flag.
After the flags were folded, the band then played "God Bless America", with attendees encouraged to sing along. The band then played out as the security guards took the folded flags backstage, and the band followed them out.
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